The Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) has today revealed the list of winners from their annual 2024 INCA Awards event, which aims to recognise and celebrate the top alternative networks (altnets) and ISPs from across the UK. Suffice to say that it was a good night for Brsk (Netomnia), Ogi, Quickline, Wessex Internet and others.

As usual, the winners were all decided by a panel of five “independent” industry judges (here), which included a mix of people from various network operators, consultancy and analyst firms.

The awards were then handed down last night at INCA Summit’s Award dinner in Wales. “The Altnets have continually shown that they are not only ensuring greater choice for broadband consumers, but that their role towards advancing the UK’s broadband infrastructure and digital ecosystem is critical,” said INCA CEO Paddy Paddison. “INCA’s annual awards give us the opportunity to unite the sector and celebrate the outstanding achievements and dedication of the organisations and individuals improving fibre and gigabit access.”

Winners of the 2024 INCA Awards

• The Customer Acquisition Award: Brsk

Recognised for leading the way in customer engagement and service. As the industry pivots from network expansion to increasing customer take-up, Brsk has excelled in understanding customer needs and creating compelling service offers. Their innovative strategies in communication and service delivery highlight their commitment to growing broadband accessibility.

• Outstanding Delivery of New Infrastructure Award: Ogi

Wales-based broadband company, Ogi, received the award for their remarkable achievements in bringing high-quality broadband infrastructure to underserved regions. This award honours organisations that stand out in the pace and scale of their network deployment, despite the challenges faced over the past year. Ogi’s accomplishments exemplify their dedication to tackling these challenges head-on and seizing new opportunities to enhance digital infrastructure.

• Sustainability Award: PlatformX Communications (PXC)

Recognised for their pioneering approach to eco-friendly practices within the ICT sector. With climate change as a pressing concern, the award celebrates organisations that place sustainability at the core of their strategy. PXC’s efforts to reduce emissions and champion environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives demonstrate their leadership in promoting a greener future for the industry.

• Best Social Value Award: Quickline

Earned for their commitment to driving social inclusion through providing reliable connectivity for rural areas. This award recognises initiatives that ensure no one is left behind in the digital era, whether through community projects of partnerships that deliver skills, devices, and essential connectivity. Quickline’s efforts have made a meaningful different to individuals and communities, underscoring the vital role of connectivity in modern society.

• Best Public Sector or Community Project: Wessex Internet

Awarded for their expertise in coordinating and collaborating on projects that bridge the gap between public and private sectors. This award acknowledges the critical role of local authorities and public bodies in advancing digital connectivity. Wessex Internet’s work exemplifies the success that can be achieved when communities and public sector partners come together to provide inclusive, community-focused connectivity solutions.

• Technical Innovation Award: ACOME Group

Celebrating their groundbreaking contributions to network technology. As the industry advances, this award highlights innovations that play a crucial role in transforming connectivity. ACOME Group’s solutions have demonstrated the power of innovative hardware and software in meeting the sector’s evolving needs.

• Outstanding Contribution Award: Ogi’s CEO, Ben Allwright

Received the Award for his enduring commitment to the industry. This award honours individuals or organisations that go above and beyond, with Ben’s leadership marking a significant impact on broadband access. His work has left a lasting influence, embodying dedication to the industry’s continued progress.

• Rising Star: Quickline engineer, Katrina Brown

Recognition of her remarkable skills and contributions as an emerging leader. This award celebrates those new to the sector who show resilience, enthusiasm, and readiness to tackle challenges. Katrina’s determination and potential distinguish her as a future leader, making her a standout talent in the field.

Telecoms and broadband giant BT Group has today announced that the CEO of their UK Consumer Division (EE), Marc Allera, is to step down from the role on 31st March 2025. The operator also confirmed that Claire Gillies would then become CEO-Designate and a member of its Executive Committee on 10th December 2024, as part of a transition process.

Marc has become somewhat of a familiar face as EE’s boss, having held the position of CEO since as far back as January 2016, before taking on the expanded role of Consumer CEO at both BT and EE, following the merger. More recently he also became the Chairman of the joint venture between BT Group & Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT Sports) and, earlier this year named, was named Chair of the Board for Jagex.

Marc’s replacement, Claire Gillies, is similarly experienced and is said to have more than 23 years’ experience in telecoms, having worked at Bell Canada since 2000 in a variety of senior leadership roles. Most recently, she was President of Bell Canada’s Wireless and Consumer Divisions where she ran a business generating CA$14bn (c.£8bn) in revenues with more than 8,000 colleagues and over 20 million customer subscriptions.

Allison Kirkby, CEO of BT Group, said:

“Marc has been an outstanding leader of BT’s Consumer unit, contributing significantly to the company’s growth, and to multiple key initiatives such as leading the team through the integration of EE into BT Group, the creation of the BT Sport joint venture with Warner Bros Discovery, and launching New EE as our lead consumer brand.

I am also grateful to Marc for his support to me this year, and for the support I know he’ll give to Claire as they work alongside each other over the next few months. As he moves on beyond BT in the Spring of next year, we all wish him every success.

I’m delighted to welcome Claire to BT. She brings a wealth of international telecoms experience and has a track record of driving growth in both consumer focused and retail businesses. She will be a brilliant addition to our team as we continue to grow BT’s Consumer division, and EE into the UK’s leading consumer brand for converged connectivity.”

Claire herself added that she was “beyond excited” to take on the new role. But changes of management can often foreshadow changes in company strategy, although today’s announcement doesn’t appear to signal any particular divergence from the operator’s existing plans for their Consumer Division.

Contributed Article

by Rakuten Symphony

At Telecoms World Asia 2024, a familiar theme echoed in the halls: a certain virtualization leader’s post-acquisition pricing has reached untenable levels.  

Here’s the twist: they may actually have done you a massive favor.

Why? These rising costs are a wakeup call. They are forcing operators to take a hard look at whether legacy platforms—once the backbone of networks—can support the demands of modern telecom operations.

The cracks in the foundation are becoming increasingly obvious:

• Legacy inefficiency: Legacy platforms have heavy overhead and are cost-prohibitive for edge deployments and modern workloads.
• Operational drag: Updates and changes are hard to keep up with in distributed environments, hampering innovation and adaptability.
• Complexity creep: Bolting on new functionality to old architectures only makes systems more unwieldy, harder to manage and a licensing nightmare.

Now, pricing shifts are forcing a decision, creating a “good” problem.

This is your moment

Rakuten understands the letdown of realizing legacy platforms can’t deliver speed, automation or economic efficiency. We saw it ourselves while building our own highly distributed cloud.

We spent years building a platform that could meet modern telecom network needs. It might be the right platform for you too, especially if your operations could benefit from:

• One architecture to seamlessly manage legacy VM-based and cloud-native workloads.
• Automation at scale to deploy updates in parallel across thousands of locations.
• Simplified operations that include one platform, one license and zero added complexity.

It’s time to break free from old limitations and look toward the future. In fact, some operators have already started on this journey.

If you’re ready to rip off the band-aid, get ahead of the curve, eliminate inefficiencies and reap the rewards of automation, please reach out to us.

And maybe thank your legacy provider for making the decision that much easier.

Considering the move to a modern cloud? Contact Rakuten Cloud today to learn more.   

The UK Government (DSIT, UK Space Agency) has today announced the launch of a new £3.5m “Very Hard to Reach Programme“, which will conduct three projects that seek to use hybrid networks (e.g. a mix of satellite, fixed wireless and 5G/6G mobile technologies) to help improve broadband connectivity in remote rural areas.

At present a little over 85% of UK premises can already access gigabit-capable broadband services via a fixed line connection (usually FTTP or Hybrid Fibre Coax), which is largely thanks to commercial deployments. The government’s existing £5bn Project Gigabit scheme (around £2bn of this has yet to be used) is similarly working to help lift this up to deliver “nationwide” (c.99%) coverage by 2030.

However, it’s long been recognised that some of the premises in that final 1% will simply be far too expensive for even Project Gigabit to upgrade, which is why both the past and present governments have been busy exploring alternative networking solutions to help resolve the issue of “very hard to reach” areas.

As part of this, the government has today published a new call for expressions of interest in delivering future satellite services for very hard to reach areas, which will see DSIT and the UK Space Agency working alongside the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme. The call is focussed on three different projects (these must include an element of match funding):

The Three Rural Broadband Projects

1. Nomadic Multi-orbit User Terminal Demonstrator (UK funding limit – up to £500,000)
2. Papa Stour Service Demonstrator (UK funding limit – up to £1 million)
3. Rathlin Island Service Demonstrator (UK funding limit – up to £2 million)

The first project aims to provide portable gigabit-capable internet speeds, with satellite (LEO/GEO) terminals designed to be mounted on vehicles to improve connectivity for users such as local authorities, farmers, emergency services, and the events and hospitality sector. In two specific rural and remote islands in Shetland (Papa Stour) and Northern Ireland (Rathlin Island), two other projects will test hybrid networks to see if they could be used to support further locations unable to connect to traditional networks.

In case anybody has forgotten, Papa Stour was also the site of another very similar rural satellite and wireless broadband trial involving OneWeb’s LEO satellites and Clarus Networks during 2023, under the previous government (here). The new project similarly proposes testing a hybrid satellite-wireless solution using LEO and GEO terminals to boost connectivity for both residents and tourists, with distribution being handled by a wireless network on a “whole community” basis, without needing many on-site personnel to sustain it.

Chris Bryant, UK Telecoms Minister, said:

“Digital infrastructure is essential for our modern way of life. But for too long, many businesses and communities have felt left behind.

This is why we must do whatever it takes to ensure we harness technological innovation to enrich people’s lives and tackle exclusion, rather than entrench existing inequalities. These pilots, for instance, will help shape the next generation of connectivity, using a combination of satellite technology and mobile networks to test innovative new services that could be a real game-changer for remote and rural communities.”

The government contends that, by integrating advanced space technologies and addressing local challenges, these projects have the “potential to significantly enhance connectivity, boost economic growth, and improve the quality of life for residents in some of the UK’s most isolated regions“. This is true.

However, we’ve now seen quite a few projects and trials like this over the past 2-3 years, yet very little has emerged in the way of a cohesive programme to help make such alternative solutions readily available for more locations – as demand requires.

A Webinar will be held with interested parties at 11am on Thursday 5th December 2024 to explain further details around the call and application process. The call for expressions of interest itself is due to close at midday on Friday 31st January 2025 and the UK Space Agency aims to notify all applicants of the results of their expressions by the week commencing Monday 10th February 2025. But the rest of us won’t learn the final outcome until the week commencing Monday 17th April 2025.

Alternative network operator Grain (Grain Connect) has announced that they’re expanding their gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network into the town of Ashington in Northumberland (England). The operator’s network currently reaches 220,000 UK premises RFS (21st May 2024) and has already connected 30,000 customers.

The local roll-out in the town, which ultimately aims to reach “thousands of homes” (we don’t get anything more specific than that), is currently entering the construction phase. After that, the “first customers” are then due to be connected sometime during “early 2025“, although it’s unclear how long the build itself will take to reach completion.

Grain’s decision to expand into Ashington is not totally unexpected, as they already have a limited deployment in nearby Blyth. On the other hand, the altnet will face some competition, not least from the well-established and wide coverage of existing gigabit-capable broadband networks via Openreach and Virgin Media (nexfibre). Some smaller providers, like Fibrenest, also have a very limited presence in the town.

Richard Cameron, Grain’s CEO, said:

“We’re not just delivering faster internet; we are also saving customers a significant amount on their monthly broadband bill. Whether you’re streaming your favourite shows, working from home or gaming, we’re helping to build a more connected Ashington.”

The ISP is celebrating this expansion with some exclusive offers for early birds in the town. Locals will be able to sign up for their 150Mbps package this November for just £19.99 per month, with the first 3 months of service being offered at half price (£9.99). Customers will also get free installation.

The operator’s full fibre network can also be found in parts of 59 other UK locations (plus over 150 new build housing developments), which includes a lot of small-to-modest sized patches of various urban cities and towns like Leicester, Liverpool, Accrington, Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Scarborough, Carlisle, Barrow-in-Furness, Hartlepool, Hull, Newport, Sunderland, Blackburn and so forth.

News 

The trial paves the way for bringing satellite-enabled messaging to customers in remote areas across Europe 

Deutsche Telekom, Qualcomm, and Skylo Technologies have completed what they claim is Europe’s first successful trial of text messaging direct-to-handset over satellite.  

The trial, conducted in Greece by Deutsche Telekom’s local subsidiary Cosmote, saw the Cosmote’s terrestrial mobile network integrated with Skylo’s GEO satellite network, allowing the device user to send and receive SMS messages. The devices used were equipped with a Snapdragon® X-80 5G Modem-RF System and integrated NB-NTN satellite connectivity. 

The messages were sent over Satellite Services (MSS) spectrum and were based technically on 3GPP’s Release 17 specifications for Direct-to-Handset (D2H) connectivity. This will allow customers to send and receive text messages globally, even in areas without traditional mobile coverage, using their regular phones, with no ad-ons or additional hardware.  

Perhaps the biggest advantage here is the use of commercially licensed MSS spectrum, which is available on a pan-European basis, allowing devices to roam seamlessly across international borders.  

“Soon, subscribers won’t have to think twice about coverage before texting, whether they’re on a remote island in Greece or venturing in regions without cell coverage – it’ll be a part of their cellular service. The future of satellite connectivity is strong integration into carrier networks and we’re excited to partner with Deutsche Telekom which has been paving the way for these new services”, said Parthsarathi Trivedi, CEO and co-founder of Skylo in a press rel ease. 

The technology could play a key role in improving coverage for rural communities, enhancing emergency response, and providing reliable connectivity wherever it is needed. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom newsletter 

Also in the news:
Sweden asks Chinese ship to return for investigation after Baltic Sea cable damage
Australia regulator dishes out midband spectrum for private networks
BT unveils new managed SASE service 

News 

The investigation was launched after two cables were severed in the Baltic Sea last week 

Swedish Prime Minster Ulf Kristersson has requested that a Chinese ship return to Swedish waters as part of an ongoing investigation into the damage of two subsea cable systems in the Baltic Sea last week. 

Last Sunday, the 218km BCS East-West Interlink cable, which connects Gotland, Sweden, and Lithuania, was damaged and taken offline. The next day, the C-lion-1 cable between Helsinki, Finland, and Rostock, Germany, was also severed. This cable is the only direct link between Finland and mainland Europe.  

European governments said at the time that they feared the damage was an intentional act of sabotage on behalf of malicious state actors and started an immediate investigation. As the damage to both affected cables occurred in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone (the area of the sea to which a country has exclusive rights), this investigation is being led by a team of Swedish prosecutors. 

Following the initial phases of investigation, it was quickly discovered that the Chinese bulk carrier ship Yi Peng 3 was in the area at the time the cable damage occurred. As such, Swedish authorities are now requesting that Yi Peng 3 returns to Swedish waters to cooperate with investigators.  

The Chinese ship is currently anchored in international waters within Denmark’s exclusive economic zone. 

“From the Swedish side we have had contact with the ship and contact with China and said that we want the ship to move towards Swedish waters,” PM Kristersson told a press conference this week. 

The PM was keen to stress that, at this stage, there is no accusation of malice, but that “this is the second time in a relatively short period of time that there have been serious physical cable breaches.”  

This is in reference to an incident in October last year, when a gas pipeline and submarine telecoms cable connecting Finland and Estonia were both severely damaged. Swedish officials described the damage as “purposeful”, and investigations are ongoing. 

Join us at next year’s Submarine Networks EMEA, the industry’s most important subsea cable event! Get your discounted tickets here 

Also in the news:
Australia regulator dishes out midband spectrum for private networks
BT unveils new managed SASE service
Amazon doubles Anthropic backing to $8bn in largest ever venture investment 

Sky (Sky Mobile, Sky Broadband etc.) has today warned the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that they could launch a legal challenge (appeal) if the proposed merger between mobile network operators Vodafone and Three UK is allowed to proceed, unless significant changes are made to the proposed competition remedies.

The merger itself, which would see Vodafone retain a 51% slice of the business and CK Hutchison (Three UK) hold 49%, has repeatedly been promoted by the operators as something that would be “great for customers, great for the country and great for competition,” while also resulting in a major £11bn investment to upgrade the UK’s 5G mobile (broadband) infrastructure and network coverage. This would be a big help to the government’s own 5G targets.

However, the CMA’s investigation (here) found that reducing the number of primary mobile operators from four to three would result in a “Significant Lessening of Competition” (SLC), giving rise to various concerns at the retail and wholesale level. Some examples include the risk of higher prices for consumers, reduced quality, dominance of spectrum ownership, tedious confidentiality issues with conflicting network sharing agreements (e.g. EE and Three UK) and less competition at the virtual operator (MVNO) level.

The merger parties and the CMA then proceeded to negotiate a series of remedies to tackle those problems, which earlier this month resulted in the competition authority signalling its “provisional” approval for the merger (here). In return, the operators agreed to adopt a mix of retail price protections (lasting “at least” 3 years), as well as legal obligations on their network delivery plans and pre-agreed prices / contract terms to ensure that MVNO’s could obtain competitive wholesale deals.

Sky Warns of a Legal Challenge

The deal currently looks set to be given the final green light, but Sky today issued a supplementary response to the recently proposed remedies that warns the CMA against approving the merger unless further concessions are made. “The current weak remedies fall very short of this, and this exposes the CMA to serious legal risk,” said Sky, which, as one of the market’s largest virtual (MVNO) operators, will naturally carry some weight.

“Having reviewed the other responses from stakeholders, it is evident that many others have raised similar substantial concerns and if the CMA do not make several key improvements to the remedy, Sky, among possibly others, will be forced to consider appealing the decision,” said the disgruntled MVNO, before outlining a perhaps, in places, ambitious set of remedies that it says would avoid this turning into a protracted legal fight.

Sky’s Proposed Merger Remedies

Change 1: Extend the offer – so Sky and others can access it

An additional year (from three to four) will reduce the risk that the Merged Entity frustrates the process to try and exclude Sky – leaving us entirely unprotected. This extra year gives us and other MVNOs a buffer to negotiate and finalise any switch. The clock should be stopped if there is a dispute as this could be used as a further way to ‘run down’ the time and game the remedy. One extra year does not substantially increase the distortion risks, but it will make a big difference in making the protections available to the biggest MVNOs like Sky.

On a practical level, there also needs to be additional time to implement the switch (at least one year).

Change 2: Lower Unlimited pricing

The current Unlimited price is far too high to allow us to compete with other comparable offers in the market. Once you add in VAT and direct costs, just to break even – at a very minimum Sky would need to price this at £[redacted]/month. Against prices like H3G’s Smarty (at £16/month) this is too high to compete in the market (even assuming retail price increases in the market following the merger).

This immediately makes MVNOs uncompetitive with the Parties – undermining our retail position. As Sky has repeatedly told the CMA, consumers are increasingly moving to Unlimited deals. If MVNOs cannot offer these at competitive prices, they will be increasingly marginalised. To enable MVNOs to compete on a level playing field, the wholesale Unlimited price would need to be reduced – which would enable us to offer deals in line with equivalent brands like Smarty.

It also remains unclear to us how any Future Pricing Mechanism (FPM) will impact the unlimited price, as well as the standard prices. The easiest, simplest and fairest way would be to base the FPM on costs.

Change 3: Competitive standard pricing and no speed tiers

We also fundamentally disagree with the Parties’ newly proposed two-tier price – with a [redacted] premium for speeds above 150Mbps. There is no justification for any premium given there are no additional costs associated with delivering this speed – [redacted]. This is simply another way to ensure that MVNOs are boxed into lower speed segments of the market, not in direct competition.

Change 4: Option to extend (5+5 years)

While not all MVNOs may want or need a longer term, larger MVNOs such as Sky, will need the right to extend the offer for a further 5 years. [redacted].

If, contrary to what we expect, there is strong competition in the wholesale market after five years then Sky (and other MVNOs) may not choose to exercise the additional five-year extension. But that is enormous risk to take, particularly given that the Parties have already signalled that they will not allow MVNOs to roll over their existing terms. We strongly urge that this right to extend be explicitly included in the offer now.

Sadly, a lot of the details in Sky’s submission have been redacted, but it’s enough to get the gist of what they’re trying to say and there are some fair points (e.g. Change 1). On the flip side, O2 (Virgin Media) has also published its own supplementary response, which seems to indirectly criticise operators like Sky for “seeking windfall benefits from the merger clearance process“, which they say go “well beyond preserving effective competition in the wholesale market.”

The situation is particularly awkward because Sky Mobile’s service is based off a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement with O2.

Extract from VMO2’s Response

“While MVNOs are valuable wholesale customers for mobile operators, they do not invest in building, maintaining and upgrading the network and are insulated from the risks associated with such investments. The current wholesale agreements in the market strike a careful balance between enabling MVNOs to compete and earn a reasonable return, while at the same time ensuring that mobile network operators continue to have an incentive to make multi-billion pound network investments.”

Finally, O2 suggested, in a dig that seemed to echo Sky’s proposal under ‘Change 2’ (unlimited tariffs), that “some market participants appear to be suggesting that MVNOs should not bear the risks associated with the unlimited tariffs which they place on the market.”

Whatever the merits, or not, of Sky’s concerns, the CMA will need to take the issues they raise onboard before reaching a final decision, which is due by 7th December 2024.

News

The newly allocated area-wide licences (AWLs) will allow organisations to build their own private wireless networks

This week, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has announced the allocation of 47 area-wide licences (AWLs) for 3.8 GHz spectrum. This midband spectrum is some of the most highly prized by mobile operators for delivering 5G services, offering an excellent balance of capacity, speed, and coverage.

Applications for the licences opened in May and subsequently received a high level of interest.

While the ACMA itself has yet to make public the winners of the direct allocation process, some of the recipients are already celebrating. Neutral host infrastructure operator BAI Communications, for example, has announced being allocated 50 MHz of spectrum, which it says it will use to help provide private networks for various industries and enterprises.

“This spectrum will be a key enabler for deployment and operation of private mobile networks, especially in metropolitan areas where non-mobile network operator entities have now been granted access to scarce 5G compatible spectrum, usually reserved for mobile network operators,” said Stephen Farrugia, Chief Technology Officer, BAI Communications.

“We are already seeing significant interest in the ports and transport sectors. This is a major inflection point to enable private mobile network adoption in Australia,” added Nick Gurney, Director Telecommunications, BAI Communications.

This is the third batch of 3.4–3.7 GHz licences that the ACMA has released, having most recently allocated 32 licences in remote areas at the start of 2023.

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
VMO2 launches UK’s first 5G standalone small cells in Birmingham
BT says Labour’s budget will cost company £100m
Vodafone Spain and Telefonica complete FibreCo deal

Energy and communications provider Telecom Plus, which trades as Utility Warehouse (UW), has today published their latest Half Year Results (H1 2025) to 30th Sept 2024 and revealed that their broadband ISP grew its total UK customer base to 384,890 (up by 10.09k since H2 2024) and their mobile base hit 526,167 (up by 59.95k).

The company is currently home to a total of 1,078,318 residential and small business customers (up from 1,011,489) across their various services and have previously set their sights on “doubling in size to two million customers … over the medium term“ (here). Most of these users take UW’s residential energy services, but they also offer broadband, mobile, insurance, cashback cards and some legacy services too.

The latest results also reveal that 60% of their new customers are enjoying the benefits of Full Fibre broadband and are planning to introduce a new VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) based home phone service in the “coming months“, which seems likely to be very similar to the Digital Voice/Phone products that other major ISPs already sell.

In addition, UW say they’ve recently “strengthened our relationship with CityFibre” by launching a 6-month free ‘Try before you Buy’ offer” on their FTTP broadband services. Meanwhile, on the financial front, the operator saw total revenues shrink again to £697.8m (H1 2024: £883.6m) – mostly due to falls in retail energy prices, while gross profit was up 1.7% to £167.8m (H1 2024: £165.0m).

Stuart Burnett, CEO, said:

“We are pleased to see continuing double digit compound growth in customer numbers for the third consecutive year, by continuing to help households to stop wasting time and money. Our unique multiservice model means we can continue to provide market-leading savings, and sustainably outcompete, in a wide range of market conditions. With a new, market-leading EV charging tariff and full fibre broadband offering, our Partners have even more ways to help their friends and family to save, whilst building a valuable long-term additional income for themselves.

A combination of improved efficiency and the strength of our multiservice model led to a 5.5% increase in adjusted profit before tax, notwithstanding lower revenues in the period as a result of falling energy prices.

The tax rises introduced in the recent Budget are expected to increase the pressures on household budgets, an environment in which the savings and earnings provided by our business model are likely to be in growing demand. We look forward to helping more and more people up and down the country as we take further strides towards doubling the business to 2 million customers and beyond.”